It's the Best Gift I Can Give
by Nova-chan
Summary: A Separate Peace Modernday adventure of Finny and Gene during the Christmas season. Gene ponders Finny's spirit of giving. I didn't know ASP had its own category! dies


NoV: This is part of my Christmas Hearts collection. This Christmas season, I'm going to be writing a Christmas fic for every show or book I've ever written about, and one that I haven't! Enjoy!

(Adapted from my modern times ASP series)

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Phineas was the sort of person who was just fun to be around. He carried with him the charm and and mannerisms of a young, proper bachelor, yet with the humor of a primetime sitcom. So, it basically seemed at all times that he lacked no aspect of personality.

And other times, we were really unsure.

The problems of being friends with a radical thinker was that you could never quiet distinguish what they were really thinking. For a second, you would think you had figured them out, that you knew what made their inner clockwork tick. But, then, the next second, they would prove you wrong by doing something completely opposite of what you thought they would do.

This had been the basis of my relationship with Phineas.

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As the first semester of our junior year of high school came to a close, the Christmas season drew ever closer. Finny was a big Christmas fan. He loved the cold weather, the hot drinks, the decorations; he loved it all. Every year, he went out of his way (and his bank account) to decorate the classrooms of all his teachers. Basically, all the teachers got the same package, whether or not they really "liked" Finny: a little Charlie Brown-sized tree strung with popcorn and miniature lights, a banner that went around their chalkboard, and a big "Season's Greetings" poster across their door.

Some students and teachers would joke about it, saying that this was Finny's last attempt at getting extra credit. But I knew that Finny did it because he liked to make people happy.

At least that's what I thought.

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He was making me late for school again. Phineas had insisted that we stop at the gas station for "a round of cocoa," since it was the first day of December, and therefore, "the most important day to drink cocoa other than Christmas Day, itself."

Of course, he and I were late already due to his tardy arrival at my house. I had been just about to walk out the door and try to catch the bus when he drove up in his shiny little sportscar, tobaggin on head, scarf and gloves in hand (though it was 68 degrees outside), claiming that he had had trouble finding his wintery items. I felt ridiculous riding around with him, being that I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and he looked like he was about to go skiing.

And, now I was sitting in the gas station parking lot, waiting for Finny to get styrophome cups of cocoa, which they probably didn't even have this early. The tardy bell at school would ring in four minutes. It would take us five minutes just to get there. It would also take a miracle.

Phineas, grinning like an ecstatic kid, skipped out of the gas station, receiving incredulous stares. He held up two cups to prove that he had been successful in his venture. I leaned over to open the door for him and he slid inside. I caught myself staring at his backside and forced myself to look up at his face.

"They didn't have cocoa, so I got us coffee," he explained, handing me a cup. "We're practically men anyway. No reason we can't drink what they drink!"

I laughed at him. "Does that mean we can drink alchohol too?" I asked, jokingly.

"Of course we can," he answered. "In fact, I may just go back in there and grab some right now--" He started out the door.

I grabbed his shirt, pulling him back in. "Not today, Phineas," I said, "you have to drive."

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After school that day, I was ready for a quiet evening of essay-writing and arithmatic solving. No such luck. Finny was waiting for me at my locker, not two minutes after the three o'clock bell.

"Hey, pal!" he exclaimed, clapping me on the shoulder. "Got great plans for us tonight!"

"Finny, I can't--" I began.

"I know, I know!" he interrupted. "But this is more important than silly homework!"

"Let me guess," I said, sarcastically. This would be known as my sarcastic winter. "We're going skating."

He shook his head. "More important than skating, dude."

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And, just like that, and hour later, I found myself at the grocery store, filling up a metal grocery cart with canned food. Finny's orders had been to get one of everything on the aisle. He started at the high end, and I at the low end. When we finally met in the middle, the cart was full to capacity.

"Finny," I said, shaking my head, "why are we doing this?"

"Well, on my way home from the gym yesterday, I saw a sign," he began to explain, looking carefully over the cans, as if inspecting them for quality. "The sign said, 'The Salvation Army Needs Your Help This Holiday Season. Please Donate Canned Foods.' And, well, I say, if you can donate, then do."

"But how in the world are you going to pay for all this?" I laughed. "You've got fifty dollars worth of canned food here!"

"I've had some money ever since last year when we had the snow shoveling business, remember?" he asked, beginning to push the cart toward the check-out line.

"Oh, yeah," I said, reminiscing on that back-breaking venture. "Hey, wait a minute!" I exclaimed. "I never got my cut of the profits!"

He chuckled. "Well, you want to help out those in need too, don't you?"

I stared at him. I could have used that extra money to buy Christmas presents for my parents, and probably for Phineas too. But, the look he gave me, with his lower lip poking out, and his eyes growing three-fold..... "Yes, of course, I want to help out those in need, Finny," I said, sighing.

"I knew you had a good heart!" he said, clapping me on the back, and pulling the cart up beside the registers.

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TBC!!! (Whatcha wanna see in future chapters? If anything!)


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